FHA Offers Incentives for Multifamily Developers in Opportunity Zones

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is now offering a series of incentives designed to spur investment by multifamily property owners in communities within the Trump Administration’s Opportunity Zones program.

 

The FHA announced it will reduce application fees paid by property owners applying for certain multifamily mortgage insurance programs for the development or rehabilitation of current or proposed apartment units located in Opportunity Zones. This will involve the switch from the current $3 per thousand dollars of the requested mortgage amount to $1 per thousand dollars of the requested mortgage amount, which the FHA said will result in an average cost saving to applicants of approximately $28,000. For ‘market rate’ and ‘affordable’ transactions, FHA will reduce application fees from $3 to $2 per thousand dollars of the requested mortgage amount, which the FHA said will create an estimated average cost savings of $14,000. The agency is also dispatching teams of senior underwriters to review these applications to prioritize processing.

 

“When more investors can apply for benefits in Opportunity Zones, more investors can supply benefits in Opportunity Zones. And that’s exactly the intention of today’s Notice,” said Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson. “These FHA incentives, combined with the preference points HUD already offers grantees for activities in Opportunity Zones, show how this Administration is maximizing the power of public-private partnerships to never forget–and always lift up–our nation’s ‘the forgotten men and women.’”

 

This marks the FHA's latest measure as just yesterday, the FHA proposed revisions to its lender certification requirements, aimed at generating increased competition and expanded choices for borrowers.

---